Emily
Would I be better off taking a student teaching position over the summer, or babysitting and continuing my other not school major related job for an Elementary Education Major?
I applied for a student teaching summer position with the local school district, when a former employer offered me a position to Baby sit their 3 children over the summer. I will be entering my Junior Year in College, and while I would like to get some good experiences on my resume, the babysitting pays more, the hours are better, and it is more flexible. It will also allow me to maintain my position at a local gym, which will give me a free membership. #resume-building #elementary-education
3 answers
Austin L.
Austin’s Answer
Hi Emily,
Great question!! Choosing what to do over the summer can be hard as often there are many different things you can do and you seem to be in this position. Every one of my summers in college I always had options and while having options was nice, it also was a source of stress as I thought that by choosing one option that I would be giving up on the opportunity to pursue the other options.
You said that you are entering your Junior year of college and that you are looking to get some work experience and I think that is a great idea. If you do not have a lot of relevant work experience already, then using your summers to build that experience is a great idea. When you graduate college and start looking for a job, you will be much more competitive and likely to get a job if you can demonstrate to your employer that you are experienced, have a good skill set, and know what you are doing. The student teaching position that you described seems like a great opportunity to gain work experience and actually see if you like the education field. In college I had a few internships and they were great as I was able to explore careers I was interested in to see if I actually enjoyed the career fields.
The babysitting may be attractive because of the better hours, better pay, and the side job at the gym, but those probably do not demonstrate to an employer that your have work experience. If you decide to go with the student teaching job, maybe you will be able to babysit as well and earn some extra money. Choosing one job over another should not have to be zero-sum. There are many hours in the day and if you are responsible you may be able to do both!!
I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck.
Best,
Austin
Thank you for your insight!
Emily
Joseph O'Donnell
Joseph’s Answer
I would like to generally concur with the response that Austin provided to your question. At this point in your educational process, I think you should strongly consider the student teaching position with the local school district. The school district represents a potential future employer for you. While the babysitting position affords you experience in working with children, the opportunity to be in a classroom setting will expose you to many things that will be helpful to your career development. Learning about some of the administrative work, understanding the policies and procedures that are applicable, interacting with experienced teachers to observe how they handle various situations and potentially finding teachers who are willing to mentor you and provide references for you. There may be some type of orientation that covers things you may not necessarily be exposed to in your educational training. But most important from my perspective is the idea that you would be working for a school district, having the opportunity to make yourself known to them and to gain that real classroom experience. I think that represents a great longer term investment in your future career as a teacher and I would urge you to consider choosing that option. Experiential learning as a supplement to your textbook and classroom learning can be a very powerful tool. Best of luck to you.
Giovina Lobozzo
Giovina’s Answer
I was a big babysitter when I was in high school. Had a few families that I worked with on the regular. When I expressed interest in being an educator they were supportive. As Joseph suggested, babysitting is great experience that you can definitely apply to your experience but there is nothing like having the practical experience for your resume. It might be volunteer but you'll find the the babysitting jobs will always be there. And you can pick and choose your availabilities around your working school. You never know - you can learn something at teaching position and apply it to your babysitting kids...see how it works! Good luck!!